Monthly Archives: April 2015

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A little late to the party, I know. I’ve been keeping up with the current season of Game of Thrones. This season is the best one yet. Everything that is happening tells me that this is going to be the most explosive season, and have the most crazy twists. I am going to warn all of you – the predictions I am about to make are based on what I have already seen of this season. So yeah, spoilers ahoy! Let’s get talking about the latest season to come. What do I think will happen? Let’s start the speculation.

10. Arya is going to leave the House of Black and White
Currently, Arya is at the House of Black and White. She wants to learn the ways of the Faceless Men, to help her get her revenge. However, that doesn’t jive with her goals. When she chose to hide Needle, instead of getting rid of it, that seemed like a prelude of the events to come. I don’t know what will get here there, but eventually, she will have gotten all she wants from the Faceless Men, and she will leave. I suspect that will be an ugly departure. I wonder what would make her go…

9. Jamie Lannister is going to die
Jamie has left to go get Marcella back from Dorne. However, I think this is going to be a one-way trip. He has gone to Dorne, alone. With the Sand Snakes mobilizing their forces, and him only having Bronn for protection, part of me thinks that Cersei agreed to his mission as a way to punish him for letting Tyrion go. A suicide mission, as it were. Either way, whether it be Jamie or Bronn, one or both of them is going to die.

8. Jon Snow will convince the free-folk to fight for Stannis
Jon Snow is now the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. He turned down Stannis’ offer to give him his name, Stark. That was a pretty powerful moment. You could tell how much it was weighing on him. Still, he turned him down. Davos, however, basically told him that he needs to get off his ass and do something. He kills Janos Slynt, and gave his worst enemy command of the Rangers. His rule over the Night’s Watch is stable. But, the fact is that Winter is Coming. In fact, it’s almost there. When it arrives, it won’t be alone. An army of the living dead, countless in number, is coming. How will the Night’s Watch defend against that? He is going to go to where the free-folk have holed up and convince them to fight for Stannis.

7. The Hound isn’t dead
There is a simple rule when watching Game of Thrones – if you didn’t see them die, then they aren’t dead. You see that the Hound is injured beyond the pale, but he is still alive when Arya leaves him. To me, that says one thing – he is going to come back. To be honest, I like that. The Hound showed a very human side to him, when he confronted Brienne. He finally leveled with the fact that he was going to have to take care of Arya, and he made peace with it. In that last scene, he found his humanity again. He truly was a good man, who worked for horrible people. If he is alive, then there is a lot of potential for neat things.

6. Tommen is killed by the High Sparrow
The High Sparrow is an awesome new character. The Faith Militant has been reformed, and they are now starting to go after the sins they see in King’s Landing. The next episode has hints that they are going to be going after Loras. So yeah, that’s probably the end of him. They kill him, then Margery is going to get Tommen to go after the Sparrows. A sectarian conflict is brewing in King’s Landing, and all because Cersei doesn’t like Margery. This move of hers is not smart, and I think that, by the end of the season, it will end with Tommen getting killed. At the beginning of the season, you hear that all of Cersei’s children will have gold crowns, and gold shrouds. Foreshadowing, much?

5. Reek reclaims his identity as Theon Greyjoy
Something neat has happened – Sansa has returned to Winterfell. The Boltons now control the city, and have stewardship over the North. The evil fuck Ramsay is living there, with his little slave, Reek. Reek has been remembering things, since he returned to Winterfell. Indeed, he hasn’t been able to look Sansa in the face, doing everything he can to avoid her. I get the feeling that he will reclaim his memory, and that will tie in to something on the top of the list.

4. Jorah gets killed
As we saw in the last episode, Jorah has kidnapped Tyrion. He knows that he is heading to Mereen, to try and offer his services to Daenarys. By kidnapping Tyrion and bringing him to Mereen, he is going to try and curry favor with her. It’s a daring plan, but I have a feeling that it will backfire. In the preview for the season, you see a scene with Jorah in the Fighting Pits, engaged in battle. I think that she is going to throw his act in his face, and then put him in the Pits to watch him die. It is there where the major battle with the Sons of the Harpy is going to happen, so this can only get more interesting. For him, however, I think that it will end in death. A bitter end, to a life devoted to the love of his queen.

3. Tyrion becomes Daenarys’ closest advisor
The Sons of the Harpy are going to make their move in the next episode. Shit is about to get real. I get a sneaking suspicion that Daenarys’ council is about to get a lot smaller, and she is going to become a lot more vulnerable. The sad reality is that she can’t play the game. She can free slaves, but she can’t keep her rule over one city. Tyrion is a master of the Game. In just a few months time, he had his run of King’s Landing, and was even able to lead an army into battle. This man can teach her, and she will know that. Accepting his help is going to be with a grudge, in the extreme, but she is no fool. That whole deal with the wheel that she is going to break, I think that’s her talking to him. And I get the feeling that drunken and unbelievably-bitter Tyrion is going to school her something fierce. I can’t wait to see that.

2. Sansa kills the Boltons at her weddng
For the longest time, Sansa has been used as a pawn by various people. Finally, after years of being used, she is playing the game. What’s more, she now has been given a piece to play. In the latest episode, she was told by a servant woman “the North remembers.” To me, that says one thing – the allies of House Stark will come, when she calls. I think that she is going to use this to her advantage. I believe that she is going to get her revenge, at long last, in a brutal massacre. It might be the plan of Lord Baelish. It would immediately gain him the North’s respect, and get him the army he is looking for, to ride with him and the Knights of the Vale to King’s Landing, to take the city. I do know that something is going to go down at the wedding. Just not sure what. A violent massacre would be fitting revenge.

1. Stannis gets killed
One of the major highlights of the season is going to be the Battle of Winterfell. Stannis and his army are going to arrive at the city, with the intent of killing the Boltons and then uniting the bannermen of the Starks. This is a man who leads from the front. Daring, but risky. Especially since Sansa has been followed, as she returns to Winterfell. Brienne of Tarth wasn’t far behind. In her mission, to protect the last child of Catlin Stark, she will stay in the shadows and wait. When she sees Stannis at the gates of Winterfell, I think that she is going to make her move. At the beginning of the season, she said that she was gunning for Stannis. When is on the battlefield, I get the feeling that she is going to show up and finally take her revenge, ending his problems, once and for all. To be honest, that would be pretty fucking awesome. Watching the look on Melisandre’s face, as her little toy is killed by Renley’s most loyal knight, now that is fitting as fuck.

So, what do you all think is going to happen in the weeks to come? Let me know down in the comments section.

Until next time, a quote,

“I believe that men of talent have a part to play in the war to come.” – Lord Varys, Game of Thrones

I’m starting to think that gaming needs to just go off a cliff, for a while. I mean, what the fuck?! It seems like every major gaming company, these days, is doing the same thing. The endless nickel and dime DLC just bugs me, to death! I mean, what’s the point of making a good game and polishing it to a mirror shine if you are just going to go and then charge us even more! Come on, Rocksteady! You’re better than this! I know you are! Let’s talk about this…

Rocksteady had recently announced that their new game, Batman: Arkham Knight, is going to have a Season Pass. It costs and additional $40, and it gives you thinks like new villains! Oh, and let’s not forget – skins for the Batmobile. Really? We’re paying you $60 for this game, and you want an additional $40 for the Season Pass. You want gamers to spend $100 to get the complete package of your fucking game. Do I have that right? This isn’t like when you added characters like Nightwing to the Challenge Mode. That was $5. For $5, you could get new characters, if you wanted them. You could get skins for Batman. Oh, and there was that AWFUL “Harley Quinn’s Revenge” DLC for $15. But it was what we wanted, when we wanted. Plus, it wasn’t stuff that should be in the fucking story, like villains! I have this bad feeling that this game is going to be devoid of side-quests, unless you have that stupid fucking Season Pass. If that is the case, then I am going to ream that game so hard in a review. I am going to give it the worst score that has ever been. If the Riddler content that I have seen in trailers isn’t in the game, because I don’t have that Season Pass, then I am DONE with you, Rocksteady! I am fucking done!

I have written two articles for Gambitcon about the nickel and diming DLC trend that is going on. The first covered EVOLVE and the absolutely insane levels of DLC they had. The second covered the stupidity with Mortal Kombat X and what I fear is going to be the case with the new Star Wars: Battlefront. In both articles, I had a thought, and now that I am seeing this with Arkham Knight, it’s kind of putting this thought into clarity for me.

See, I wish that I had gotten some business or accounting education, because then I would be able to crunch the numbers and answer a pretty crucial question. That question is – is video game development now so expensive that, to keep companies financially solvent, they have to milk their players with shit like this? I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Ever since the PS4 was revealed, we either get games with a fuck-ton of glitches, or a fuck-ton of DLC. It’s no surprise when EA does it. They are a greedy little worm. Though, people are kind of leaving them. They are following the path that Capcom blazed not too long ago. And look what happened to them. They went bankrupt. AAA companies won’t take risks, because the fact is that if they make a bet on a new IP, and it doesn’t pan out, their company could go belly-up. That’s the point that we’ve gotten to. I think that the answer to my question is – yes. Without the constantly influx of capital, gaming companies like Rocksteady will go out of business. That fact depresses me to no end.

Because that means that the AAA market is going to crash. Soon. Within the next couple years. Players are wising up and not wanting to get involved with this kind of business practice anymore. Times are tough and we have to spend our money wisely. Why would we buy a product that we have to pay around or over $100 to get the complete game? That’s ridiculous. What’s more, we shouldn’t be expected to. We are giving these companies $60 for a game! For that amount of money, we should be given the complete game. Okay, maybe you have some cheap DLC, like an additional character in Challenge Mode or some $1.99 skins DLC. I might look into that, later on. But the game still needs to have its meat. The game needs to be a full game. We gave you $60. You owe us that much! If we are paying you money, it is only fair that we get a complete product.

That may not be enough, though. For these companies, it may not be enough to get $60 for a game that they know people want. It may be that they need vastly larger sums of money. If that is the case, then gaming is dead, and we’re just waiting for the final bell to toll, letting us know that the end has come. Hints are in the air that Konami is going to close their gaming shop. Now that Kojima was fired, it looks like they are going to invest in their pachinko and slot machine market. It’s surprisingly big. They might see the writing on the wall.

I am nervous, people. My whole life, gaming was a past-time. I am a console gamer, and the time of the consoles may come to an end, once the AAA companies crash. It’s very upsetting. But there may be hope. Perhaps, once the AAA market crashes, we can see the mid-level game market come back. Where there can be innovative ideas. Maybe we can see that again. There is hope. I am glad for that. We could use some hope. Spirits know, there never seems to be much, these days. But I guess we’ll wait and see.

Perhaps I’ve said this too many times now, but I just graduated from college with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Public Communication. When I went into college, journalism was a thing I aspired to. I had heroes like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. who stood up to lies and told hard truths to the American people. I had people like Keith Olbermann, who, despite his bias, still gave these great Special Comments, where he took a bag of snakes and laid them out straight. I had places like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, who talked about current events and made sport of what was happening, and how ridiculous it could be. I came into college with that in mind. I have left college disillusioned, disappointed, and not wanting anything to do with traditional journalism. Why? Because here’s a hard truth – journalism in this country, both the 4th and 5th Estate, is broken! It is broken beyond repair. How? Well, let’s dive into madness and explain.

For those who never bothered to do any real learning of the growth of society, let me give you a quick lecture of the Estates. The 1st Estate is the church. The 2nd Estate is the government. The 3rd Estate is the people. The 4th Estate is the press. A free and open press are the vanguards of democracy. Or, at least, they used to be. Now, every single one of them, from NPR to Buzzfeed, are whores, selling what they think an audience wants to hear from sun-up to sun-down, for the noble goal of ad revenue. No news outlet is immune from this. So many will say – but what about NPR and PBS? Those outlets are better, but even they cannot escape it. After all, NPR did an unboxing video of a PS4 (linked here). This fact should depress us, but Kotaku decided to find this quite hilarious. No surprise, given the standards of “journalism” that they have. We’ll get to them in a moment. But all news outlets are guilty of this.

It’s easy to look at MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News and laugh at how terrible the quality of their reporting is. The Daily Show has been making a proper mockery of them for years. But the fact is that every single piece of journalism that is supposed to have standards is guilty of this. To really glean why, look no further than Rolling Stone magazine.

By now, this story is infamous. The story of a girl at the University of Virginia who was given the name “Jackie” in a report by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, has become the tolling bell of what was left of the 4th Estate’s credibility. It is fitting that Phi Kappa Psi is suing Rolling Stone for defamation. They are becoming the butt of a joke, but the truth is that it shouldn’t be funny. Not to anyone. To anyone with even the smallest bit of self-awareness, this should be horrifying. Why?

Let’s look at some of the things that went wrong with the writing of that story. All of what happened are mistakes so rookie that a first-year journalism student learns not to do it. For example – Sabrina only used one source. One. Not once did she fact-check or verify any of the information that she got from Jackie. That is a mistake so basic that it boggles the mind. How can someone who claims to stand for honest and fair reporting only take one source’s word at face value? Okay, so maybe Erdely is a terrible reporter. In fact, not maybe. She IS a terrible reporter. Her career, such as it is, should have committed suicide to any publication with any repute. What about the editor? After all, all publications have editors. Usually several. Erdely’s article was reviewed by four editors. Four! Four people looked at that piece of journalistic sloth and believed that it was quality worth printing. According to them, they spoke with Jackie quite a bit, and took what she said at face value as well. Four people, editors for a major publication, who didn’t seem to believe that seeking the perspective of a single other person was a wise idea. That incompetence on display is the stuff of legend. Then, when the truth was revealed and Jackie was exposed as a complete fraud, who got fired in connection to this? Who was held accountable for their actions? No one. Not one person has had to feel any legitimate consequences. Rolling Stone promises that they are going to work hard to correct the system that led to what happened, but that just makes it feel more disingenuous. After all, as the article linked above shows, they are so deep into incompetence that there may not be a definable line between what is and isn’t an offense that merits termination of employment. They seem to be huddling together, hoping to ride out the storm. Phi Kappa Psi, give them your worst. It’s clear that this publication needs to learn.

Rolling Stone is not the disease. It is a symptom. It is a symptom of an illness that has infected the entirety of journalism, from the most base of its ground up to the top of its hierarchy. From the beat reporter to the nightly news anchor. They are all a part of it. What is that? That’s easy – the culture of shameless pandering. I think that I’m going to let a YouTuber by the name of Mykeru media handle this one, with probably the greatest analogy that I have ever seen.

It works like this – say you have a dirt road. The road goes nowhere and nothing of significance has happened on that road since the time it took to lay down a half-foot of windblown dust. Now, stick a box on the side of the road. There’s nothing special about it, it’s just a box. A casual observer, were there one, might wonder – what’s in the box? Maybe there’s money or dope, puppies or kittens. If it was owned by Gretta Christina, there could be some old prescription fluvox. More likely, the box, like most discarded things, is simply empty. A reasonable guess as to what’s in the box would range from nothing bad to nothing at all.
Now, bring in a cable news team and their army of professional douchebags and that otherwise-innocuous box will take on a decidedly-ominous cast. A photogenic blonde hand-puppet can talk about what, if any, potential threat the shoebox represents to you and yours and what can be done about it, because dammit, something should be done about it! Hours of non-important space between all-important advertisements can be filled with clucking and braying Hollywood squares of ‘reliable’ talking heads who, with the utter conviction of people who have no idea what they’re talking about, whose expertise is based entirely on having seen a shoebox once without knowing that they, occasionally contain shoes, can take a hardline against those godless, life-hating bastards who let people threaten us by leaving shoeboxes on the side of the road. This can go on for hours of cheap, content-free television. The point is to create an inclusive, safe-space where people who count, by virtue of being on television, can feel free to completely lose their shit over nothing without fear of contradiction. And where they can all join together in worst-case scenario solidarity like a clenched asshole expecting the worst.
By the time someone figures out that there was nothing in the box and before anyone can actually learn something from it, they’ve all moved on to the next big important thing, such as the anal bleaching among silicon-based lifeforms.

That is news, in a nutshell. That is the entirety of the profession. It’s all just finding things and then turning them into the most bombastic stories they can, for the express purpose of selling ad space, copies and getting clicks on online stories. Aren’t we proud.

Ah, but what about the 5th Estate? you say. Good question. First, let’s define the 5th Estate. Part of me wonders how many of you only know that term from that terrible movie with Benedict Cumberbatch. The 5th Estate is the Internet. A nation with a culture, rules and communities all its own. It has redefined life on Earth. Part of that is amazing. After all, we now have all the knowledge of the human race at our fingertips. We have all the greatest pieces of music, culture and history right here. Unfortunately, we also have a lot of garbage. So much garbage. Vast oceans of garbage. Nowhere is this more apparent than in 5th Estate “journalism.” Though calling it that is an insult to even the term in scare quotes. I kid you not.

Let’s talk about gaming journalism. Say what you will about GamerGate, there has been some rather amazing stuff that has come up because of it. A YouTuber called Internet Aristocrat made a rather fascinating series of videos (linked here) about things as they came out. There was an article from a man named Dave Cook, where he outlined the history of his time in gaming journalism, blaming people like myself for why he left. Now, I went after Cook on this site, and I admit that I went after him a little hard. He pointed out some blatant corruption in the industry, but he at least regretted his actions and tried to do the right thing, after being outed for doing the wrong thing. That’s more than pretty much anyone at Kotaku can say.

To sum up 5th Estate journalism, let us look no further than a site called The Mary Sue. This poor excuse for “journalism” doesn’t even try to hide the fact that it is biased in the extreme. This site has a blatant pandering to third-wave feminism. A movement that has brought back the McCarthy witch-hunts and is so pro-censorship and anti-free expression that it boggles the mind.

Every single online news publication, regardless of its subject matter, panders to an ideology. From The Huffington Post to The Drudge Report, every single online-exclusive publication panders, for the express purpose of getting clicks. All online journalism is the same. Vetting sources? Never. Any amount of objectivity? According to Leigh Alexander, it’s a “silly thing to strive for.” Sites like IGN and others have adopted ethics policies, but the fact is that they still pander. Whether it be to the Authoritarian left, like Kotaku, or AAA gaming companies and shilling their games, like pretty much every site that has real credibility.

How did the 5th Estate go so wrong? What happened? Well, as Internet Aristocrat showed in a video the whole problem – the 5th Estate has no one to answer to. Publications like Rolling Stone have to answer to us. They have to answer to the public. The Nightly News has to make retractions. When is the last time you remember Kotaku, Polygon or any of their ilk admitting wrongdoing? Buzzfeed exists for erroneous news. Like their report on false rape statistics. A thousand and one sites exist that don’t even bother trying to do honest and factual reporting. They all just pander, making titles that are deliberate click-bait. Although, the 4th Estate isn’t above that. After all, ABC admitted that their hit-piece on GamerGate was click-bait.

That’s what it boils down to – click-bait. It’s all about clicks. It’s all about views. Facts? That’s easy to get around. Good reporting? Not even seen as important. I love this bit that Jon Stewart said on Fox News, talking about what 24 hour news networks are and their role in the world. He made a great point – journalism in this country doesn’t care anymore about good reporting. It doesn’t care anymore about whether or not it is spinning a narrative. Because you got clicks! The truth doesn’t matter if you get clicks! After all, it’s just journalism! Can’t you just have a good time? It’s just Buzzfeed, after all. Who cares if their stats are total bullshit, and that they use total hyperbole to sell a narrative? Who cares that NPR does unboxing videos? They got to make money too, right? Who cares that journalistic integrity is up for sale by the highest bidder? We have money to make!

The big question becomes – can it be fixed? Is there a way to fix modern journalism? I honestly don’t know. I mean, I see people like John Oliver, who did something that I believed was impossible – made in-depth journalism funny. He made the IRS sympathetic! Do you know how impossible that is?! Then we have Frontline, who does great stories like “The Suicide Tourist.” Reporting that is in documentary style. It gives them a chance to actually talk to people. But what is the cure for this culture we live in? I honestly don’t know. I have a degree in journalism, and I don’t know what to do with it. What is the future? How can we get this fixed?

If you figure it out, let me know.

Until next time, a quote,

“So what’s your proof again, about the partisan agenda and what I do? That’s the embarrassment. The embarrassment is that I’m given credibility in this world because of the disappointment that the public has in what the news media does.” -Jon Stewart

Here’s a thing to know about me – I’m kinda fat. I have more than a few extra pounds on me. I’m just a little over the range of what is considered healthy for my height, but I am working on that. See, I don’t aspire to look like these male models in magazines. For one, I don’t have the money for that kind of lifestyle. For another, I like food too much to aspire to that. What’s more, I like unhealthy food. Still, there is no reason that I can’t have a healthier lifestyle and enjoy the benefits of living healthier. Still, I’m kinda fat. I bring this up because anyone who says that what I am about to tell you is fat-shaming is full of shit.

All over Tumblr, you see things like “thin privilege” “fat acceptance,” and “body positivity.” Look, I am all for people being happy with their bodies. But here’s the deal – we need to start being honest about who we are. We need to be honest about the fact that being fat has problems that comes with it. Being fat is bad for your health. I accepted it, and am working to keep things in a place where I can feel better, live better, and overall just be better. That’s what needs to happen. Why do I bring this up?

It seems that a company called Protein World got into some hot water by the Tumblrite SJW snowflake crowd. We live in the age of perpetual butthurt, after all. They don’t want to be told that being fat can be a bad thing. There was a rather awesome video made by the Internet Aristocrat about the SJW obsession with not making a point about people being fat. Check this shit out.

Protein World is a company that sells supplements and stuff like that, with the intent of helping people get in shape. Their latest ad campaign asks a question –

Oh look! There’s one of the snowflakes now! I can’t help but notice that she’s thin as a rail. Kind of weird that a thin person takes so much umbrage with the billboard. I mean, what is her beef? She clearly works hard to keep herself thin. Or she is genetically predisposed. Is that it? Thin guilt? It’s like white guilt, but for thin people.

The special snowflakes took to Twitter, to go after Protein World, and then the unthinkable happened – Protein World didn’t bow. They didn’t break. They chose to stand tall to these Authoritarian bullies and tell them what they think – #GrowUpHarriet. A hashtag that has been trending, so the snowflakes could know what they think. It’s awesome. It’s high time that a corporation took a stand against these people. Took a stand for their right to say what they want. Because you know what, it’s time that we had an honest conversation about being fat.

Being fat isn’t a good thing. I’m sorry, but it’s not. I’m not some guy who feels hatred of myself for being overweight. I am working on it, but that’s just so that I can have a healthier life. Because being fat does have health problems. Being fat is a major issue. Especially in this country – the US of A. Obesity is such a massive problem. Part of that is due to how many poor people there are in this country. Sure, bad behavior is a problem, but I won’t deny that when you are poor, your nutrition options are limited, and poverty is growing in this country, as the middle class has all but disappeared.

What’s more – being thin isn’t a privilege. My ex is 4′ 9″ tall. She’s tiny. She has a metabolism like a squirrel. To gain weight, in an effort to join the Air Force, she is trying to gain weight, along with working out to gain muscle weight. It’s been unbelievably difficult for her. Because she naturally burns so many calories, because she has a very high metabolism and is active at her work and in her lifestyle. It’s not a privilege. It’s what she was born with. The people who are in magazines don’t have a privilege. Sure, Photoshop has a lot to do with what we see, but the women who model and who act and whatever else bust their ass to be as thin as they are. It isn’t a privilege. It’s hard work and dedication.

And that’s what choosing to get in shape is – a choice, that requires dedication. But it doesn’t have to be something that you do insane levels of dedication for. For real, it all starts with simple things. I have chosen to get off non-diet soda, and drink green tea. I go on walks almost every day. They’re pretty long, around a hospital just down the road from where I live. Now that summer is here, it’s a great time to do this. I sweat, get my adrenaline going. It feels good, and though I am totally sweaty and feel like a dried out carp when I get home, I feel better once I am rested and I got my energy back. I am working desperately to find stable employment, so once I do, I am going to be eating better. No more Kirkland frozen pizzas from Costco, save for one in a while. Oh, and you can also ditch snacking, which is what I did. Just having the three meals a day. If I do snack, it’s canned fruit. Living healthy doesn’t have to be a lead ball around your ankle.

Look, if you want to say that being fat is fine and that you don’t care about the consequences, that’s your choice. You can do that, and you can own that. But let’s not go acting like weight isn’t an issue. Let’s not go acting like weight isn’t part of life. Let’s not act like a person’s weight won’t be a part of their life.

As for Protein World, good on you, standing up to bullies. The SJWs are the new thought police. They are the new McCarthy witch-hunters. It’s high-time that somebody told them to fuck off. And it made you all over a million dollars (adjusted from British currency) in four days. That’s impressive.

It’s not good to treat people shitty for being fat. But for all the fatties like me, we have to accept that we are fat. If you choose to accept it and do nothing about it, that is entirely your choice, and you are free to do that. To the people who say that the BMI is bullshit and that think that people treating them differently is wrong – your bitterness doesn’t validate your lifestyle. I’m sorry, but your aggression doesn’t change the way that things work.

It isn’t exactly news that Kojima is on the outs with Konami. One of so many people who founded companies who eventually got shit-canned by them. You have the creator of Mega-Man leaving Capcom. You have the creator of Resident Evil also leaving Capcom. The guy who made Castlevania also left Konami. You have Sega just becoming total shit. Their path to failure is one that Nintendo is following pretty closely, what with them already looking to release another console with the Wii U only having been out a few years. All these great creators, getting seeing what they’ve made be turned into and leaving. It was depressing then, and it’s depressing now. However, a recent piece of news has come out that might just make it even worse.

To anyone like me, who LOVES old-school survival horror, the Silent Hills playable teaser was the ultimate breath of fresh air. I loved The Evil Within, but even I have to admit that that game stayed true to a formula. One that has gotten a little old. I still don’t get why so many people hated that game. In any case, that teaser was such a breath of fresh air. With how terrible the franchise has become, this reboot needed to happen. It had the power of Hideo Kojima, Guellermo Del Toro and Norman Reedus as the main character. That’s some pretty big shit right there!

However, I suppose we all kind of forgot about this game when Kojima and Konami were on the outs. But news just came out that is more than a little disturbing. It got a little misconstrued, but the fact is that we don’t know what the truth is. See, Del Toro was lamenting that he wasn’t going to be able to work with Kojima anymore on Silent Hills. With the playable teaser being pulled, a lot of people now are of the mind – this game is cancelled. Konami is being VERY tight-lipped. This is a problem. Why? Because the fact is that Konami isn’t doing very well these days.

In fact, almost none of the Japanese gaming companies are. Look at Capcom. They declared bankruptcy some months back. They have been hemorrhaging money for years. It’s a complete fucking mystery to me how Sega is still in business. Their games suck! They have milked the Sonic franchise until it is beyond dead. Their attempt to breathe new life into it was a disaster. If Nintendo was smart, they would buy Sega. Then maybe they can get some talent into that husk of a company. Square Enix seems to be coming back from a ledge. With their playable demo for Final Fantasy XV, they seem to be getting their mojo back. What’s more, they just announced a new Star Ocean game. Now THERE is a franchise that has not been given any love for far too long.

It seems like the great masters of gaming just lost something. You have so many franchises that lost what made them special. Japanese developers seemed to think that the best way to sell their games was to make them like everything else that’s popular. But that didn’t work. In fact, that is the reason that a lot of companies are falling through. It’s happening to so many major development companies. Once the Japanese greats go, western AAA companies won’t be far behind. People are getting tired of the cookie-cutter sequels to games that used to have a special spark. People want original and unique content.

Part of that want is with Silent Hills. This game looked to have so much potential. First-person perspective, a creepy ambiance, and what seemed to be an engaging story. It was finally going back to what made the franchise scary in the first place! If Capcom doesn’t have anyone who can finish this game, and is just going to throw it under the bus, then I’m done. I honestly am checked out of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, so their one-trick pony doesn’t do much, for me. I realize that I am in the minority, on this. Sigh.

I’m with Alpha Omega Sin, it looks like Konami doesn’t have faith in their company. Why is so much creativity being stifled? Are gaming companies now just so big that they can only make games within established franchises? Are they only able to milk things, for the bare-bones capital that keeps their company alive? This is a question that I am having a lot with gaming companies. All over the board, we only see a certain kind of game, and it makes me a little worried. Then you have shit like what Mortal Kombat X pulled with their DLC packs. Too many signs that gaming is about to have a major crash. This is unsettling, in the extreme.

What looks to be happening with Silent Hills is depressing, but it’s just a symptom, not the disease. The disease is developers not realizing that you can do smaller games and gamers will be happy. The disease is that every company thinks that they need their own Call of Duty, when the truth is that the franchises that become their company’s cash-cow are becoming stale and gamers don’t want them anymore. The disease also is that companies are trying to push stuff out the door too hard. Gamers are patient, when they can tell that the product is going to be good. Gamers hear about games from Activision, and we roll our eyes. EA has become a household joke, Capcom has gotten a reputation as a game that milks franchise loyalty and abuses DLC. Meanwhile, Rocksteady tells people that their new game is getting pushed back, and what is the response – good! Get it right! Get this game right!

So yeah, fuck Konami, if you killed this game. We gamers are not a very forgiving bunch, and this franchise has been dead for a while. If you cancel this game, then you have essentially put the last nail in the coffin. That fucking sucks.

Until next time, a quote,

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” – William Blake

When I saw that DC is trying to follow in Marvel’s footsteps with their own cinematic universe, I was skeptical. Partly because I think that they are a little late to the party, and partly because I think that the new Superman was boring and Ben Affleck’s Batman will be sup-par. The new trailer for Batman vs. Superman didn’t help.

When I heard they were making a live action movie based on the Suicide Squad plot, that got me thinking that there might be hope. Because I just saw a rather enjoyable animated version of the same thing. Of course, that film had Troy Baker’s absolutely stunning Joker. For real, he was able to take the reigns from Mark Hamill in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined. But then, it’s Troy Baker. If anyone can do it, it’s him. He’s arguably the best voice actor working today.

When I heard that Jared Leto would be taking the role of the Joker, I was…unsure. I mean, he’s not really been in anything. At first, I confused him with the sexiness that was the guy who played the Winter Soldier, but that’s Sebastian Stan. Yum. In any case, I didn’t know what to think about this character. Then they released an image of what he’s going to look like…

Before we get to talking about this, let me preface what I am about to say by saying that there are plenty of Joker iterations that are unique. A lot of people gave Troy Baker’s Joker in Arkham Origins shit because they had the Joker in a leather coat was a bad call. I don’t. Mostly because, again, Troy Baker. For real, this guy is just awesome. But this Joker doesn’t look the part. AT ALL!

I mean, am I the only person who thinks that those tattoos are just totally unsubtle? I mean, “damaged”? Really? Yeah, that totally isn’t overkill. Then there’s all the “Ha”s on him. It’s all so lacking in naunce or uniqueness. I am cool with the Joker having ink. No joke, that part doesn’t bother me one bit. But there are so many unique tattoos to work with! The Joker is complicated. He’s strange. He doesn’t do things for reasons people understand. If the Joker gets a tat, I always saw it as something absurd, for no reason. Like Rainbow Dash with her head shoved up her ass or something like that. Something where you are left wondering why, and then you realize – asking why is not the thing to do. There is no why. Then you see a tattoo of Tweety Bird or something. Just a bunch of absurdity that you can’t help but be amazed and confused by. That’s the Joker! Not some skull with a jester hat. That feels like it was decided by executives who sat around asking – what’s popular with the kids these days?

Then, there’s the fact that this Joker looks like a juggalo. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you why this bothers me. Those guys are about as subtle as a brick being dropped on your foot! Part of what made the Joker such a cool character is the fact that you could never tell what he was thinking. When he was dangerous, he was really dangerous, but you didn’t see it coming. You never knew how to feel. He could sing love songs to Batman, like in this video here.

And then kill people. No rhyme, no reason. By the way, the dude who is sporting the look in that short fan film has it down to a fault. No joke, I’m impressed. And whoever did the singing voice, you sir, need more work.

All of this being said, let me make one thing clear – I am totally open to Jared Leto blowing us out of the park with an amazing performance. If he makes a new version of the Joker, then I think it could work. Plenty of versions have worked. From the campy Romero Joker, to the mixture of funny and deranged Nicholson Joker, to the quirky violent charm of Hamill’s Joker, and the terrifying darkness of Ledger’s Joker. All of these are good and different. If Leto knocks this out of the park, then you know what – I’m happy. But this look doesn’t impress me. And if the Joker is sporing the Juggalo look, then I have worries about what Harley’s look is going to be. If I see Juggalo Harley, I’m done. No joke, I’m done with this movie.

I realize that I am about to accomplish nothing good here, but I am about to talk about a person who believes that they are very good, and has shown off, in an article that couldn’t have eaten her out more (the equivalent of articles that suck a guy’s dick), when the truth is that she is an awful person, married to a terrible actor. I am talking about Anne Wheaton, the wife of Wil Wheaton, who recently decided that she was going to pathetically attempt to troll GamerGate. And an article was written that made her look like such a hero. It’s really, really sad. Let’s about it! The publication that wrote about her/ate her out was called The Mary Sue (linked here). That should tell you what kind of publication we’re dealing with, and their level of professionalism.

Anne Wheaton, Vandal Eyes genius and wife of Wil Wheaton, did an experiment on Twitter yesterday which led harassing Gamergaters into causing donations to be made to one of the organizations they despise the most – Feminist Frequency.

I like how this author took the one-knee approach. It puts the booty, like, right in front of the lips (Independence Day joke for the win!). Could this opening have been more bias? I swear to god, any myths about professional objectivity (true objectivity is impossible) just went out the fucking window.

Check out that article, if you want to see something so hopelessly biased. This publication itself is just another great piece of evidence to how broken and pathetic the 5th Estate journalism is, but that’s part of a much bigger article on the pathetic state of modern journalism that I’m writing. Still, let’s look at Anne Wheaton’s article that will show how she brilliantly pwned us GGers. Ready, my GamerGate supporters, to feel pwned?! Well, here it is!

As much as I enjoyed meeting and seeing all of these wonderful people, I also know there can be people out there who look for opportunities to try to be hurtful and harmful to people who just want to enjoy a convention experience. I know this happened at Calgary Expo this weekend, and the staff and local authorities handled the situation immediately. It’s an unfortunate world we live in where angry and unhappy people try to find ways to take the joy out of life for someone else, but it was obvious by the thousands of people at this convention that it wasn’t going to affect their enjoyment of the weekend.

Wow. I don’t think that a better description of modern feminism could have been found. Are you sure that you’re defending feminism, Anne? Because you kind of nailed them. They are angry and unhappy people, trying to find ways to take the joy out of life for someone else. You look for opportunities to be hurtful and harmful to people who just want to enjoy themselves. After all, you support what they did at Calgary. So, you support censorship. You’re the modern McCarthy movement. You are the ultimate example of thought police. You doxx. You harass anyone who doesn’t agree with you. Look at the shit that went down with Christina Hoff Sommers. She has, in the most civil way possible, disagreed with your ilk’s canard about rape culture and trigger warnings and video games being sexist, and you make her out to be a pro-rape woman-hater. Some secret misogynist.

If there is ANY group of people who are misogynists, it’s you and yours! You and your asshole, loser husband, who should have shut the fuck up when Picard told him to. You tell women that they are vulnerable and weak and totally in danger. When guys like me try to tell women to learn self-defense, keep mace or a knife on their person, we are told that we’re rape-apologists. Because we want to help women learn to protect themselves. A societal expectation that is had of men, that you DON’T think that women should have. I haven’t heard you all talking about how the term “gunman” should be changed to something more PC. Your entire movement is predicated on a belief that women are weak and pathetic and shouldn’t be held accountable for ANYTHING! But Sommers is the misogynist?! People like me are the misogynist?! The entirety of this Puritanical Feminism movement is the most hypocritical thing ever.

So, what does her self-righteous posturing end up with? Where does this all go? Well, she took to Twitter and decided to let her butthurt show.

For every angry, hateful, and/or disrespectful tweet I receive from a GamerGate person, I am donating $1 to @femfreq. I’m already up to $67.

Let me get this straight – for every person who disagrees with you, you are going to donate $1 to a complete charlatan who has shown that she will take money for a project, never finish it, never keep a SINGLE one of her Kickstarter promises, and then will ask for even more money. That’s who you’re going to donate to. Wow. That’s…pathetic.

I will not engage in your comments, GamerGate people. But I will mute you and donate $1 on your behalf to @femfreq.

No wonder you’re donating to Feminist Frequency. You don’t engage with people who disagree with you, and you stand proud in front of the fact that you just wasted your money for the sole reason of getting your butthurt out. It makes sense that you married Wil Wheaton. He’s a loser and you’re an idiot. Good to know.

The attacks on me were because of @Calgaryexpo and what I wrote on my blog. With no response from me, they’re now including @wilw in this.

Well, yeah, you’re Wheaton’s wife, and I get the feeling that you’ve been trading on that for a long time. After all, look what publication gives you press time – one that so clearly has absolutely ZERO credibility! And there’s no evidence of Willy being brought into this. Like all Twitter and Tumblr feminists, you talk about all these things that happen, but where are the screen caps? Where is the evidence? Do you know what evidence is?!

In the flood of hatred spewed my way over the past few days, I have seen the sweet and supportive tweets as well. Thank you for that. 🙂

The truth is, Anne, you trolled for reactions, and you got them. That’s what modern feminism has become. Well, your brand of it. It’s people who want to feel special, feeling the need to have a victim complex. Because if you did like a normal person, and ignored the negative things people say on the Internet, then you wouldn’t have any leg to stand on. You, Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, all of your kind, live your lives angry at whatever random bullshit you can find. And when that bullshit isn’t feeding your victim complex enough, you go to publications like The Mary Sue and peddle it out, so that you can get a voice who haven’t done the first tiny bit of fact-checking, because these people are nothing but a worthless rag that wants to be taken seriously.

I don’t know who I’m more annoyed at. You, Annie, are just another one of these pathetic, whiny, entitled, upper-class feminists who clearly have never had to live in the real world. You think that you won some victory here against GamerGate. We don’t care. If you want to waste your money, good! I’m sure you’ll find this and think that I am threatening or something and donate another dollar. So I think I’m more annoyed at this shitty publication, The Mary Sue. One more terrible publication in 5th Estate journalism, that has no standards and has no problem sucking your ego off! That’s what journalism has come to! Ego-sucking. Sucking the ego-cock of every person we talk about. And ANY amount of criticism is treated like threats! Find me a post where I encourage violence against anyone. For real, go through what I’ve written, and find it.

This is me telling you and that fuck-stain of a publication that sucked your ego to fuck off. You are a disgrace to journalism, and the fact that it’s come to this is pathetic.

Until next time, a quote,

“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.” – George Bernard Shaw